eing
provided, which was to be a first charge on the revenues of the several
provinces. This sinking fund was objected to by the colonial delegates,
but the only modification in its terms which they were able to obtain
was that the sinking fund was not to take precedence of any existing
liability. Before leaving England, Messrs. Tilley and Howe prepared and
submitted a memorandum to the Duke of Newcastle in which they expressed
a hope that Mr. Gladstone might be induced to reconsider the matter of
the sinking fund, and that it would not be insisted on. The Canadian
delegates left England without an acceptance of the terms proposed by
Mr. Gladstone, and without a formal rejection of them. Previous to the
meeting of the Canadian parliament, Tilley proceeded to Quebec to urge
upon the Canadian government the preparation of the necessary bills to
carry out the agreement entered into for the construction of this great
railway. He reported to the lieutenant-governor on his return that the
government of Canada, for reasons stated, could not then undertake to
pass the legislation required, which they greatly regretted, but that
they had not abandoned the arrangements for the construction of the
railway. The Canadian government's declaration in the course of the
session that they had abandoned this important enterprise was,
accordingly, a source of great surprise and regret. The governments of
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia passed the necessary legislation at the
next session, but the government of Canada took no further step in the
matter until the confederation negotiations were commenced in 1864.

CHAPTER VI

THE MOVEMENT FOR MARITIME UNION

We now come down to an event of the greatest interest, in which Mr.
Tilley took part, and one of such vast and far-reaching importance that
it quite overshadows all the other events of his career. The
confederation of the Canadian provinces was, beyond all question, the
most notable colonial movement within the British empire since the
American Declaration of Independence. It changed at once the whole
character of the colonial relations which had subsisted with the mother
country, and substituted for a few weak and scattered colonies a
powerful Dominion, able to speak with a united voice, and stand as a
helpmeet to the nation from which most of its people had sprung. No man,
whatever his views as to the wisdom of that political union may have
been at the time, can now deny that